Since moving to the U.S. from the Philippines in 2001, Rocero has officially lived her life as a woman—she says one major moment was when she saw "F" next to the gender marker on her U.S. driver's license. Although she'd worked as a model for over a decade, none of her friends in the U.S., colleagues, or even her agent knew she'd transitioned. After coming out to them late last year, she decided to take the TED stage and share her story of finding herself. And it's had a big impact.

"When I look at the messages from all over the world, they are messages of love, of triumph, of happiness," Rocero told me of the reaction to her talk. "People share their most personal stories with me about their experiences, about their realizations, not about transitions or gender identity, but more about courage, living your dream, and finding support and not letting fear paralyze you."

Rocero has started Gender Proud, a global organization to expand gender marker rights—meaning the M or F on your driver's license, passport, and other documents. "At the core of Gender Proud, what we're trying to do is create unified global message about why it's important for countries around the world to create a gender recognition policy. It would allow transgender and gender-variant people (people who don't conform to either gender) to change the name and gender marker on documents without having to go through surgery, forced sterilizations, or other dehumanizing barriers. Right now there are only a handful of countries that allow you to do that."

"You have an opportunity to affect people—every day I'm reminded of that," Rocero says of the response. Words to live by.